Royal Rumble 2018 Discussion [& stats]

[westlondonmist]

59 minutes ago, Keith Houchen said:

They might as well rename it Wrestlewomania and be done with it, right?

Didn't Alan Partridge do the voice over for that?

Am I the only one that thinks it would have been better fro Rousey to come out tonight at Raw. Having her come out last night was a bit "well done Asuka for winning the first women's Royal Rumble but all we want is for people to remember at this event is Rousey and not you!". Seems so much like Hogan after he beat  Warrior. Asuka should have been the spotlight for one night only.

Whether you have your views about Rousey being in MMA at the right time, well every sport evolves, the runners get faster, power lifters get stronger, in football the tactical decisions become better as they all work on previous flaws. Just what happens, but she will remain famous for being the a strong champion and has shit loads of name value because of it, she doesn't mean much to me but I respect that for others her name is a big thing. People have said one day women will main event Wrestlemania, well to be honest I think with her it is possible. Her against Charlotte for the title would be a big match.

[Jazzy G]

I legit marked out when Nakamura won. It was a decent Rumble. As already  mentioned the Slater/Sheamus thing was fun, as were some of the other spots. The teasing at the end with Reigns was classic as well. I went berserk when Naka hit the Bomaye on Cena. Hopefully Nakamura & AJ curtain jerks Mania, as it means they wouldn't have to worry too much about time constraints. More importantly I hope  the buildup to the match is good as well. It deserves to be so much higher up the card, but I'd hate for them to have to cut it short to make time for an unnecessary time filling promo.

The Women's Rumble could have gone horribly. It was sound strategy to have Sasha and Becky in there for a decent stint as they were the ones you could depend on to keep things running smoothly. I thought they were trying to make Tamina look like some kind of a big deal at Survivor Series, but will admit to having not seen any TV since then so was a bit confused when she got eliminated by Lita. Likewise when they were talking up Sonya DeVille's MMA background and  a couple of the other women from those new groups only for them to get eliminated by Michelle McCool. I made a half joke that maybe hubby had been helping book the match. Trish looked in fantastic shape, and could probably embark upon a run tomorrow if the money was right. The little turn at the end from Sasha kept things interesting, and there were some good nostalgia moments.in both matches. I wasn't a fan of Rousey's surprise appearance at the end as I didn't like that Asuka's just come through a Rumble to earn her shot only for Ronda Rousey to saunter out and  essentially say "Whoever you're not wrestling I've got dibs on".

Anybody else  think Gable missed a cut to break up that second fall in the Smackdown  tag titles match?  Shelton's been rolled up, Gable is up top then suddenly he's on the canvas nowhere near the fall for no apparent reason? Maybe I was wrong, but if I was it's a shit finish. I wonder whether more will be made of Owens not being the legal man  when he got pinned during the match as well. I know it was at the Rumble, but it's whether this carries over into Smackdown as well, because if it gets disregarded it surely pisses all over the whole premise of the tag titles match?  Maybe a triple threat at Fastlane between Styles,Owens & Zayn? Have them start off teaming against Styles, but then selfishness rears its ugly head and we've got Zayn Vs Owens set up for Mania then potentially.

[Callum1993]

Fantastic show top to bottom. They really shouldn’t have blown their load though by having half the ‘surprise’ entrants in the Women’s rumble on Raw. I thought that took away from a lot of the surprise on the night. Probably the best Rumble for the men in a long time though. 

[BomberPat]

I disagree with sending Ronda out on RAW instead. An awful lot of people only watch the Rumble and Wrestlemania, so you put someone like Ronda Rousey - formerly one of the all-time biggest draws in her profession - on the show that has the most eyes on it. And having her not explain herself beyond pointing at the sign means people are going to tune in to RAW tonight in the hope that we get an answer.

It was clunkily executed, but in principle it made perfect sense. I'm not too worried about them not allowing Asuka "her moment" - there'll be plenty more, and she's still going into Wrestlemania as the undefeated winner of the first women's Royal Rumble, it's not like she was swatted to one side in favour of Rousey.

I'm now genuinely curious to see how where we go with this - I'm more concerned that Asuka sacks off the title shot to face Ronda Rousey than with Asuka's "moment" being overshadowed at the Rumble itself; it shits on the belts to have someone opt to fight someone else rather than fight for the titles, unless Asuka can manage to sell it as, "I can beat either of you any time I want, I'm going to take on a real challenge", but even that is burying Alexa and Charlotte unless they have Asuka work heel enough to make it clear that it's just her hubris - though that's way too subtle for a WWE women's story.

 

In any case, it's bloody exciting that the big headline-grabbing celebrity story for Wrestlemania is in the women's division, and potentially involving a Japanese Joshi veteran. That would have been mental and unthinkable at any other point in WWE's history.

[westlondonmist]

2 minutes ago, BomberPat said:

I disagree with sending Ronda out on RAW instead. An awful lot of people only watch the Rumble and Wrestlemania, so you put someone like Ronda Rousey - formerly one of the all-time biggest draws in her profession - on the show that has the most eyes on it. And having her not explain herself beyond pointing at the sign means people are going to tune in to RAW tonight in the hope that we get an answer.

It was clunkily executed, but in principle it made perfect sense. I'm not too worried about them not allowing Asuka "her moment" - there'll be plenty more, and she's still going into Wrestlemania as the undefeated winner of the first women's Royal Rumble, it's not like she was swatted to one side in favour of Rousey.

I'm now genuinely curious to see how where we go with this - I'm more concerned that Asuka sacks off the title shot to face Ronda Rousey than with Asuka's "moment" being overshadowed at the Rumble itself; it shits on the belts to have someone opt to fight someone else rather than fight for the titles, unless Asuka can manage to sell it as, "I can beat either of you any time I want, I'm going to take on a real challenge", but even that is burying Alexa and Charlotte unless they have Asuka work heel enough to make it clear that it's just her hubris - though that's way too subtle for a WWE women's story.

 

In any case, it's bloody exciting that the big headline-grabbing celebrity story for Wrestlemania is in the women's division, and potentially involving a Japanese Joshi veteran. That would have been mental and unthinkable at any other point in WWE's history.

I understand the idea of getting people to watch Raw. With regards to taking Asuka's moment, it was more because it was the first Royal Rumble that it should have been more special. I also hope they don't have Asuka vs Rousey for no reason at Mania, I think Asuka should win the title and remain unbeaten at Mania and probably beat Bliss with Rousey beating Flair at Mania setting up an Asuka vs Rousey match at Summerslam.

[BomberPat]

Depending on how long Rousey is sticking around, I could even see them trying to keep Asuka and Rousey apart until next Wrestlemania - at this point, Rousey vs. anyone is the money match, it almost doesn't matter who the opponent is, but if she's sticking around long-term (and it looks like she is), then they're going to need to give us a reason to be invested in the whole match, not just the curiosity value of seeing her in WWE. If Asuka can manage to stay undefeated for a whole other year, and then have to take on an undefeated Ronda Rousey at Wrestlemania, that could be huge.

Speaking of undefeated, if it weren't for the fact that Lesnar is almost certainly dropping the belt to Roman Reigns at Wrestlemania, I'd say I wouldn't be surprised to see them keep it on him long enough to beat Punk's "record".

[MEGABUCKS]

Rumble was alot better than last few years. But one thing that really bugs me for like the past 10 years is how everyone just lays about on the canvas and then pop back into action and then back on the floor again. I remember how the Rumble used to be an hour of nonstop action. I dont remember Rick Martel, Ric Flair, Ted Dibiase etc just staying out the ring or on the floor most of the Rumble to kill time.

One thing that really bugged me in that womans rumble was there were about 6 legal woman at one point but about 4 were out of sight for like 10 minutes. Sasha spent more time out the ring on the mat than in.

[Guest]

Have Asuka come out during Rousey promo tonight and redo post rumble 97 , have rousey as the ref at mania , then have her in ring summerslam as challenger. Way more long sighted than wwe would do, but be an easy way to get media attention 

[Keith Houchen]

Yeah I thought a few bits were set up too heavy handed.  Like when one of the Bella's was in there, then with a new entrant about to come in, everyone started laying into her. Made it obvious who was about to come in, but a small quibble.

I did see Trish do the V thing to Mickie but it looked like they cut away to make sure it wasn't on TV,  Agree on the last segment as well, they seemed to be just stood there and Rousey's graphic popped up and they quickly cut away, then 10 seconds later they acted all amazed.  I wonder if they put the graphic up too early.  Thought Rousey looked like she was pissing about to be honest, took a bit of shine away from Asuka.  Still, I'm one of those idiots who still thinks with good booking, anything can work.  So yeah, job done, I'm interested.

 

[tiger_rick]

2 minutes ago, Keith Houchen said:

I did see Trish do the V thing to Mickie but it looked like they cut away to make sure it wasn't on TV, 

I thought that at first but then noticed her other hand was holding up 5 fingers. I think she was holding up 7 as in 7 women's championships.

[Keith Houchen]

Just now, tiger_rick said:

I thought that at first but then noticed her other hand was holding up 5 fingers. I think she was holding up 7 as in 7 women's championships.

Ah, she did that when she eliminated her as well.

[BomberPat]

I think the main problem is that Rousey couldn't seem to decide whether she was going with super-serious and dramatic, or smiling and happy to be there - at one point the camera caught her very abruptly changing facial expression. She took her sweet time, too, which made it feel even more awkward when it didn't really amount to anything. Could have done with a "less is more" approach - did we really need to see her and Stephanie do a Megapowers handshake, or could that not have waited until tonight?

[d-d-d-dAz]

4 minutes ago, Louch said:

Have Asuka come out during Rousey promo tonight and redo post rumble 97 , have rousey as the ref at mania , then have her in ring summerslam as challenger. Way more long sighted than wwe would do, but be an easy way to get media attention 

That's a terrible idea. The whole narrative behind signing Rousey is how it's a full time deal, that she genuinely wants to be a WWE superstar, not a celebrity attraction, and is taking it super seriously. Making her a special guest ref pretty much misses every angle they're trying to hit with this.

The Observer, I think, are apparently reporting that the plan is HHH/Steph vs Rock/Ronda but that's surely bullshit? That's barely any better than Louch's idea.

I'd much rather they did Asuka/Bliss and Ronda/Charlotte. Have them booked as parallel freight trains on their respective shows until you do a champion v champion match somewhere down the line.

[BomberPat]

Just now, d-d-d-dAz said:

The Observer, I think, are apparently reporting that the plan is HHH/Steph vs Rock/Ronda but that's surely bullshit? That's barely any better than Louch's idea.

That was floated after Ronda's first appearance at Wrestlemania, I can't imagine it's still on the cards now. Has that actually come from the Observer recently, or has it been referenced in coverage of the story elsewhere? I can see a news site picking that up.

[PunkStep]

1 minute ago, d-d-d-dAz said:

The Observer, I think, are apparently reporting that the plan is HHH/Steph vs Rock/Ronda but that's surely bullshit? That's barely any better than Louch's idea.

To be honest, I'm down with that. If they aren't doing the Horsewomen battle (which isn't looking likely), then this would be better than having Ronda in there in a singles match at WrestleMania. They've spent ages upping the in-ring quality for women's wrestling over the past few years, Ronda could really be exposed in a big singles match too soon. A mixed tag would make sense- it's still money as Ronda is wrestling, Steph will FINALLY have some sort of comeuppance from somebody, you get another massive name on the card in The Rock (without him having to have a 20+ min singles match) and it is also a way to get Triple H on the card.